Guest essay by Eric Worrall
According to Governor Newsom, “we no longer need to drill things or extract things to advance our economic goals”.
Gavin Newsom signs order banning sales of gas-powered cars in California by 2035
BY LARA KORTE SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 10:32 AM
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday issued an executive order requiring the sale of all new passenger vehicles to be zero-emission by 2035, a move the governor says would achieve a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and move the state further away from relying on climate change-causing fossil fuels.
“This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change,” Newsom said. “For too many decades, we have allowed cars to pollute the air that our children and families breathe. You deserve to have a car that doesn’t give your kids asthma. Our cars shouldn’t make wildfires worse – and create more days filled with smoky air. Cars shouldn’t melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines.”
His announcement comes on the heels of one of the most disastrous climate events in California’s history. The state is still battling wildfires, which have burned a record 3.6 million acres.
Newsom for weeks has cited climate change as a major contributing factor, and has called on federal officials, including President Donald Trump, to take more aggressive action on clean energy.
…
Read more: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article245948120.html
The following is a tweet from Governor Newsom. The announcement starts at 4:45.
Newsom hopes everyone will follow California’s lead, but why would anyone else want to copy California’s slow moving energy disaster? The more engineering literate amongst us might have noticed that, thanks to renewables, California can barely keep their lights on. More unreliable renewables will just make this situation worse.
Adding millions of energy hungry electric vehicles, many of whose owners would want to charge at night, would be unlikely to improve California’s unstable renewable energy grid.
Governor Newsom in his interview said “we no longer need to drill things or extract things to advance our economic goals” (see the Twitter video above).
Every study I have seen about renewables suggests that any serious attempt to go 100% renewable would require far more drilling and extracting than a fossil fuel powered economy, like a 2700% increase in lithium extraction. Even carbon intensive cement production would have to increase substantially – all those wind turbines and solar panels need cement bases.
Manufacturing cement largely consists of heating limestone or other Calcium Carbonates to 825C (1517F) degrees, to separate the limestone into Calcium Oxide and CO2. There is a lot of CO2 in limestone. Current cement manufacture accounts for 8% of global annual CO2 emissions. Cement does not last forever. A substantial permanent increase in global cement production would pretty much cancel any CO2 savings from going renewable.
Between clearing wilderness areas for wind turbines and solar arrays, and turning what is left of the state into a vast open pit mine to feed the mineral hungry renewables industry, going renewable would devastate California’s environment.
I guess there would be one small silver lining to the Newsom push to turn the State of California into a Renewable Energy extractive wasteland. The few scraps of forest and wilderness which would survive the push for renewables would no longer pose much of a forest fire hazard.
Of course it is possible Governor Newsom is aware of all this (h/t Charles the Moderator).
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The tweet at the end is cheering a rule for 2035… by applauding the Governor for finally realizing NOW IS THE TIME to take drastic, decisive action. Is that tweet from The Bee? Serious question.
Okay, so I re-read the tweet at the end – and now realize it makes the same point I want to make (it is ridiculous, in 2020, to outlaw something in 2035!) Obviously, it’s too late and I’m too tired to be making comments. Goodnight!
dunno but I suggest the drastic n decisive action wuld be to vote the nutter OUT asap you have a chance?
… contrary to all the evidence. Apparently the frequent rolling blackouts are proof to Newsom that all they need is wind and solar. Well, okay then.
There is tremendous drilling and extracting for wind and solar.
Why is Griff not here to cheer this plan?
Sure, go all electric and then …
The Cambridge report estimated the UK electric grid would need to expanded by a factor of three to cover heating, manufacturing, and transportation… with zero emissions.
“The UK electrical grid power supply output would be required to INCREASE by a factor of THREE (with zero emissions) as all heating, manufacturing, and transportation, is going to be powered from electricity”
http://www.ukfires.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Absolute-Zero-online.pdf
Cement cannot be made and there is no solution.
There is no solution as how to power ships or airplanes with zero emissions.
There is no solution as to how to construct buildings or what is going to replace plastics.
There is no solution for how to mine with zero emissions or how to smelt steel. The solution is more recycling.
Green energy is a fable, an urban legend.
And Germany has reached the natural limit of the scam, where more wind and sun gathering does not reduce CO2 emissions in Germany.
Germany have found the absolute limitation of wind and sun gathering.
Germany is at impossible green scam step 1. Germany has hit there are no magic batteries to store electricity for months problems.
Why?
In Northern countries, summer is sunny and windy. And winter is cold and often windless.
Germany is at the point there is no load for their green power in the summer and there is insufficient green power in the winter.
Batteries can shift power for a few hours not six months. Batteries lose energy due to internal small continual losses. And it takes a great deal of energy and material to construct batteries.
These magic batteries must load shift all of country’s energy by months.
Try running New York city on batteries for a week.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/12/21/germanys-green-transition-has-hit-a-brick-wall/
Yesterday the germans doubled down (up?).
https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/DE/Pressemitteilungen/2020/09/20200923-altmaier-eeg-novelle-2021-klares-zukunftssignal-fuer-mehr-klimaschutz-und-mehr-erneuerbare.html
(in german)
‘There is no solution as how to power ships or airplanes with zero emissions.’
Yes there is!
https://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/airbus-reveals-new-zero-emission-concept-aircraft/?change_country=UK
‘Airbus reveals three new zero emissions concept aircrafts that could be in commercial use by 2035.’
And
https://ricardo.com/news-and-media/news-and-press/zero-carbon-future-for-the-shipping-industry-is-achievable-%E2%80%93-ricardo-report
Ocean going vehicles that do not burn fossil fuels:
Griff,
Get real. The “Green” team are like children, angry clueless children, just like Greta.
The money is gone, gone, gone, and really gone because of Covid.
The Trillions spent on climate change have accomplished zero. No change in climate, as humans did not cause the CO2 rise and the CO2 rise did not cause the temperature rise.
Anyway… back to Airbus’ Zero Concept Idea.
The Airbus “Zero Emissions Concept”…..
The Airbus Zero Emission Idea.. Ta Da…..Power the plane using LIQUID hydrogen.
OK, so what happens if a plane crashes.
Big Bang, local.
Where is the liquid hydrogen for all of the airplanes going to come from?
Liquid hydrogen is one of the most dangerous substances to handle. There is reason why big rockets filled with liquid hydrogen are launched in remote areas.
So where does all this liquid Hydrogen come from??? HYDROcarbons!!!
Interesting link Griff
As far as the airline link goes…
First green option is a Turbo Fan engine that can go 2000 miles (around 1/2 way across the U.S.) and runs on Hydrogen. And where does the Hydrogen come from? HYDROcarbon Fossil Fuels.
The second is a Turbo Prop that travels 1000 miles and is also fuelled by HYDROgen.
And the third also has a range of just 2000 miles and is fueled by HYDROcarbon sourced HYDROgen
As far as shipping goes (from your link) While electrofuels are carbon-free, they don’t contain as much energy per unit volume as fossil fuels, so with similar onboard storage capacity, zero-carbon ships will need to stop at ports more frequently to refuel. Though every article I find on ElectroFuels indicate they’re also sourced from Hydrogen.
Griff,
Did read the article YOU posted?
It uses HYDROGEN gas!
It take a lot of energy to make large quantities of the gas.
It is very easy to explode.
moderators sorrry for the double post. please delete the second one.
Whew it’s still there…I’ll be sure to watch the second one first, before it is disappeared
The average home in California consumes 19 KWhrs of energy daily. Driving 50 miles daily in a Model 3 uses 14 KWhrs of energy. Most households have 2 cars and 2 drivers. They also want to ban natural gas for heating and cooking. The state already imports a third of its electricity and more than half its oil. The policy might be workable for the affluent. The Poor will have to find a new state to live in.
The California middle class will become the poor if they try to stay.
Governor Newsom in his interview said “we no longer need to drill things or extract things to advance our economic goals”.
Q) Where do you think the materials to make the electric cars come from?
A) Digging, drilling, extraction
The copper and rarer metals in BEV’s is greater than fossil fueled vehicles so even if you recycle what you have today, more is needed for the BEV’s of tomorrow. They try to reduce the use of rarer metals but the total number of cars to build dwarfs the existing availability.
But, but we only have 10 years left!
California must act now and ban the sale of all new Internal Combustion Engined cars. They’ve known about climate change for years yet have not taken any real action.
They can also ban hydrocarbon fueled generators. This means Pelosi’s ice cream will melt during power failures, but too bad.
Sarc off… sort of.
He says cars will be banned but nothing about trucks, RVs, motorcycles and others powered by gasoline or diesel.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the state doesn’t institute a costly buy back program (mandatory) where they will offer the owner the fair market value for their gasoline powered car. I suspect a majority of the state’s citizens don’t drive the newest cars so they won’t receive enough money to put a down payment on the newest wiz bang alternate fueled car.
Horses might be the next alternate transportation in the state.
So Newsom thinks he is a dictator then and does not need the legislature to create laws? Even in CA this EO won’t pass the scrutiny of the courts, even if future Governors don’t erase it first (which is very likely). This amounts to pure virtue signaling by Newsom and you’d have to be an idiot not to realize that.
In a recent column by Holman Jenkins in the Wall Streeet Journal, Mr. Jenkins observed that the state of California is responsible for emiting 0.1% if the world’s CO2. Even if California was successful in totally eliminating CO2 emisions, the rest of the world would still emit 99.9% of atmospheric CO2. The governor’s effort to save the planet would be for naught. I suspect car dealers in Las Vegas and Phoenix will see an increase in car sales.
For Cali-phoni-a’s sake, I hope that the public WAKE UP to this farce and they are able to walk back from this lunacy.
The longer it takes.. the more costly will be the recovery, if its even possible.
The level of political discourse keeps sinking lower and lower and lower. Even the most fully woke climate zealot can’t be so stupid they actually believe this is possible. Are we that dumb as a society? They have rolling blackouts a month ago and now people somehow think it’s possible to put 15 million vehicles on the grid as well. This is sad; just sad. If your political policy can’t fit on a bumper sticker, flush it in the toilet.
Are we that dumb as a society?
Sadly, it appears that we are.
I think the Bee reporter is wrong (not surprising, given the quality of media people today). I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure is what he did is direct CARB to come up with a plan to accomplish that goal. Something he’s already empowered to do. He’s not making dictatorial decrees. I don’t mean to dispute that it’s a ridiculous, idiotic, and unneeded plan. Presidential wanna-be posturing, I’m sure.
Word problem: Wikipedia says CA can currently generate 80 gw of power. CA also has 15m registered vehicles. Assuming they all travel 10k miles per year and 70 kw gets you 250 miles, how much does the installed generating capacity of CA need to increase to accommodate all of the electric cars?
Bonus: How many square miles of new solar panels are required to supply that electricity?
Bonus bonus: How much energy and tons of earth will need to be used to create all of those batteries and solar panels?
According to the CA DMV in 2019 there was double that amount registered in the state.
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/uploads/2020/06/2019-Estimated-Vehicles-Registered-by-County-1.pdf
How much of that 80gW is so called renewable? Every watt of renewable will have to be de-rated by a facto of 4 to 5 to account for the times when it isn’t available.
Meathead RINO Arnold Schwarzenegger is long gone too as the Governator, but he’s still around to see the disaster that his signing California’s Cap and Trade and emissions schemes 14 years ago are having on 2020 California’s business climate and increasingly unaffordable energy relative to surrounding states and loss of reliable electricity. Cal is already being forced to now delay long-planned retirement of natural gas generation plants now that the rolling blackouts have become a summertime reality. Those are a direct consequence of Arnie’s idiocy in 2006.
And similarly, Gavin Newsom is young enough at 52 today, that while he may be gone from the Governor’s office in 2035, he’ll likely still be here at 67 yr old then. So in 2035, Newsom will get to see how either his ICE car ban is a disaster, or it simply gets kicked to the curb by some future governor when reality comes home. Just like Arnie can now see the slow moving disaster that his 2006 law on emissions capping is having on Cal’s lack of reliable electricity and its rising costs.
Newsom is planning to run for President. You can see it in every action he takes. It’s why he wants to position himself as a “forward vision politician”.
Average life of an auto is about 12 years.
Proper care (etc.) and 20 years is doable.
So, banning new car sales, and I assume you will not be able to bring autos into CA unless EVs, in 2035 means there will be little noticeable effect until about 2050. Then a long tail on this puppy. Is there a crisis? Apparently not.
That means another 30 years of polluted air, inducing asthma, worse wildfires, melting glaciers, rising sea level, and disappearing beaches.
All this assumes the climate cares what California does or doesn’t do.
Insofar as climate cares not a wit about all this EV stuff, here is an image that summarizes the situation:
Pee on a tree
The usable life of a car in CA is easily 20 years with the mild climate. But the folks with the 3 year lease will be upset that their huge suv, Benz or Maserati, is no longer available, just electric cars.
20 year old cars in CA run great, but the paint burns off after about 15, so they look like crap.!
My ’97 Chevy still get 30 mpg around town and 40 on the highway, and passed it’s last smog check with 3 ppm hc and 0.00% co.
The usable life of a car in CA is easily 20 years
I agree. The “average” life gets dragged down by the ones that are crashed in the first few months. There is some pulling of the mean higher by the historic cars that are many decades old. More crashed than saved, perhaps.
the paint burns off
We owned a ’93 Buick. Those and many other autos of the time had a bad primer (or something) and paint came off in big flakes. Gray under the paint coat.
not ours, but similar
My understanding of the paint failures back then was due to attempting to reduce VOC’s in the paint. I think Dodge was the first with their pick up trucks.
The primer was water based. The bond between the primer and finish paint coat failed due to some sort of bacteria attacking the primer. A biocide was latter added to the water based primer formula.
Please just get rid of all fossil fuels in California right now. Let the rest of us watch in sad amusement at the predictable results. Walk your walk Governor!
Let California lead the way- into , something…
The Guardian has reported this as a ban on “gas-only” vehicles. If that is the case, plug-in gasoline hybrids would still be allowed. By 2035, improving electric technology and decreasing battery costs will likely plug-in hybrids the most economical drivetrain option, even if it’s never plugged in. That makes this pure virtue signaling with no real impact.
Who voted for this person? How bad was his opposition?
Thanks to CA’s new run-off law, the opposition was likely another Democrat.
Make that their new primary system. With the new system, runoffs aren’t needed anymore.
An old saying attributed to the ancients
“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”
From the greek original one could instead substitute for “mad” ” a moron” .
I suppose all civilizations end, in a sense by self destruction. Maybe we are living the end of the western civilization. Morons cannot lead a civilization.
“There is no solution as how to power ships”
Nuclear powered warships have been roaming the oceans for years. Planes? – perhaps not, although maybe we just haven’t been told about it.
Russia operates the only known nuclear powered merchant ship, + a bunch of nuclear ice breakers.
If you read the actual order you will realize that all the reports of a ban are fake news. The order just establishes a “goal”:
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
1. It shall be a goal of the State that 100 percent of in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks will be zero-emission by 2035.”
Why just a goal and not a ban? Because the esteemed governor does not have the authority to establish a ban — that would take the legislature.
Is this order stupid? Yes. Because by 2035 electric vehicles are likely to be so popular that it will seem ridiculous to try to force people to buy them. Like restrictions on light bulbs, the order seeks to prematurely force people to move to new technologies when they are already heading in that direction by their own volition. It’s abhorrent to use the force of government for such a purpose.
Do I think Newsom is dumber than a box of hammers? Yes. Just look up the interview he did with Adam Carolla a few years ago. But just because Newsom is a detestable nitwit doesn’t mean that the reports of a “ban” aren’t fake news.
“Because by 2035 electric vehicles are likely to be so popular that it will seem ridiculous to try to force people to buy them.”
Will that be before or after the Unicorn ranches are established?
Don’t be silly, Mark.
There will never be unicorn ranches, because they will never be able to hire enough Pixies as ranch hands. The Pixie union would never allow it.
Don’t worry about it. This will be rescinded in the future.
Only if Commiefornians elect some sane politicians to office. Given their track record, I find that highly unlikely. The best hope for the residents of Commiefornia is for the legal battle over it to reach the Supreme Court, where at least then you have a hope of it being ruled unconstitutional (a hope whose likelihood will increase with Trump’s replacement for RBG).
You gotta love watermelon logic for a laugh. First they kick off their bleeding obvious law of unintended consequences-
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/low-tax-on-heating-is-bad-for-climate-report-says/ar-BB19mnEa
So then they reckon it’s a massive subsidy to the fossil fuel industry which must stop and these are the same clowns who subsidize well to do EV owners. When none of it pans out the way it did smoking ill advised substances now the brains trust effectively want to ban ordinary income earners from using private transport.
You can see it coming can’t you? Ordinary income earners abandoning California in order to afford private transport elsewhere and where will that leave the remainders wanting their Teslas serviced and maintained among other sundry requirements? Or will they be able to slip across the border and/or truck in cheap used ICEs to register locally Guvnah? Do enlighten us all with the finer details as I suspect there’ll be a lot of new car dealers on the border selling demo ICEs if you can’t.
Newsom can easily solve the night time demand for power to charge electric vehicles: another executive order requiring people to work night shifts so their cars can charge in the daytime. Or just ban cars so everyone has to use transit. /sarc
We have a serious Californy Gubernatorial race on our hands here folks!
“xecutive order requiring people to work night shifts”
No need to, just stop working. AOC has promised full income anyway.
Alternatively you can use the new flying cars:
Flying cars to be tested in Australia – NZ Herald
They are electric, they are expensive and don’t go far – what more could you wish fore!
“Flying cars capable of reaching speeds of up to 300km/h will be tested in a new facility in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.
NSW will spend just over NZ$1 million to build a “state-of-the-art” testing facility for the flying cars in Narromine, near Dubbo.”
All those unused airports at present and they have to spend money on a state-of-the-art facility? Does it take off does it fly around the airport and does it land in one piece? What am I missing here?
Yes!! Just work out the physics on the weight of the batteries, the power per pound, the power required to lift all that, and you probably get a flight duration of, um, about 10 minutes. If you’re lucky.
So…. “We no longer need to drill things or extract things to advance our economic goals”
Where does he thinks plastic and rubbers and more come from?
What about the tires on these cars? Wooden wheels? Oh wait.. there are no more trees. All burnt to the ground.
No plastic in the cars is possible… biodegradable made from lactic acid maybe? It will all melt under the hot sun.
What about the fabric on the seats, carpet, etc… nope! Most fabrics are made from petroleum.
Not even talking about all the energy needed to get all the metals and minerals….
Can people be so gullible to think that is feasible?
But, seriously, if we don’t find alternatives to petroleum as a source of chemicals to make stuff, humanity will be forced to live in fur and huts at some point.
Oh dear, the UK government is considering a plan to ban the sale of fur.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44913186
And isn’t fur banned from sale in California?